Ferrara has few ‘Bad’ things to say

Director tries to play nice with Herzog remake

Abel Ferrara just can’t be a good boy, not when it comes to the soon-to-shoot Werner Herzog-directed remake of his “Bad Lieutenant” with Nicolas Cage in the title role.

During a June 18 Rome press conference for Ferrara’s screwball comedy “Go Go Tales,” Italo journos asked the famously foulmouthed Ferrara for his thoughts on the “Lieutenant” redo, which is being produced by Edward R. Pressman, who also produced the 1992 original toplining Harvey Keitel.

At first Ferrara hemmed and hawed, saying: “They made me swear to keep my mouth shut.”

Then he followed with, “My mother used to say: ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.’ ”

But then, true to form, Ferrara let loose: “What do I think? I think that if they don’t have any original ideas about what movie to make, they should leave mine alone.”

Pause.

“They don’t have the balls to even get near ‘Bad Lieutenant.’ ”

Shooting on the remake is scheduled to start July 7 in New Orleans with Eva Mendes also in negotiations to star.